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Emotions as Physical Injury or Threat of Physical Injury.
“The Hurts.”

The Hurts are specifically about relationships. Mostly between people, but also may be less commonly about relationships with inanimates (i.e., a car, motorcycle, an object of sentimental value), animals and pets, spiritual and religious entities, and popular cultural concepts such as Santa Claus, movie and pop stars, fashion idols, etc.

These relationships manifest in metaphor as physical injury metaphors, and so it is appropriate to refer to emotional health and emotional wellbeing.

Typically, the person with this bias was regarded as the “sensitive child.”

I estimate that about 15% of the population have this bias. A minority when compared to other biases of emotional experience, these adults with “The Hurts” can often be identified easily by the following key traits:

• • they are destined to find that their emotions and feelings remain without correct acknowledgement by their partner/s.
  • the bathroom/kitchen cabinet is full of home remedies, dietary supplements, health foods, and herbal remedies and vitamins.
  • they are much more emotional than their peers, with a wider range of emotions and of longer duration.
  • experience a higher level of intensity of all emotions when compared to others without this bias. They are often regarded as “sensitive.”

Two people with this bias will tend to form a rapid, emotionally intense, and exciting friendship or relationship with a powerful experience of emotional recognition that often ends quickly with high emotional intensity. Two lovers with this bias will tend to draw each other into the “dark side” of their emotions, which is frequently moderated by alcohol, drugs, and activities of harm.

Characteristics of this bias.

• • Emotional state and welfare are significantly affected by the presence of other people.
  • Do not tend to find the company of other people to be restful. Tolerance of other people’s company tends to have a time limit. For example, they may be fine when having guests for dinner for the first hour, but after that, they start longing for everyone to leave. Thresholds tend to range from 45 to 90 minutes.
  • Needs greater periods of solitude away from other people than average.
  • Not very good at maintaining contact with people.
  • Affected kinaesthetically by the behaviours of other people towards each other even if not personally involved. 
  • Is aware of things occurring inside relationships between people, even when the involved parties appear unaware of it themselves.
  • A tendency towards a strong sense of moral justice.
  • Don’t work well in teams – a tendency to self-employment or unemployment, or regular short-term employment before changing jobs.
  • Dislike for competitive sports.
  • Replaying of minor micro-social events and behaviours (“I cannot believe I said that”) after social gatherings accompanied by high levels of self-recrimination.
  • Thus, people with this bias are prone to depression and loneliness, with regret being the primary feature.
  • When ill-dignified, a tendency towards abuse and pleasure of the body.
  • At greater risk from alcohol and drug use, anorexia/bulimia, deliberate self-harm (such as cutting), creative suicide fantasy, and promiscuity.
  • Feel emotions “in the body.”
  • A tendency to somatisation of emotions (i.e., “mystery”/non-medical physical problems such as stress rash, stomach ache, general annoyances such as aches and pains, stiff neck).
  • A minority of people with this bias may have frequent difficulty differentiating between “stress” and a physical health problem.
  • A tendency towards mystical leanings and self-exploration, exploring different states of self and ways of being.
  • Experiences of synaesthesia. For example, hearing the sounds of cannons firing when viewing a painting of an artillery battle.
  • Sometimes experiences kinaesthetics external to the body leading to a tendency to beliefs in “healing”, auras, experiencing the “hidden world” (occult), and the mystical.

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Common roles adopted.

• The Miserable Hermit (withdraws from society, introspective rumination, negative self-analysis).
• The Mystic (adopts esoteric interests, explores the darkness inside themselves, obsesses on “healing”).

Cultural image: Suffering leads to spiritual enlightenment, suffering teaches transcendence,

Slogan: “What doesn’t kill me, makes me stronger.”

Common idioms that are suggestive of “The Hurts.”

Loss of a body part

“Heart ripped out.”
“Guts ripped out.”
“Feels like part of me is missing.”

Damage to body

“Brokenhearted.”
“Stabbed in the back.”
“It was like a slap in the face.”
“I’m hurt.”

Destruction of the body

“I feel cut to pieces.”
“I’m in pieces.”
“I’m in bits.”
“I’m torn apart.”
“Tears me from limb to limb.”
“I need to pull myself together.”

Asphyxia

“I feel suffocated by this relationship.”
“I don’t have room to breathe.”
“She has a stranglehold on me.”

Dying

“I’m dying here.”
“I’m very run down.”
“I can’t live like this.”

Death

“I feel like I died that day.”
“My life is as good as over.”
“I’m devastated.”
“It kills me.” 
“I don’t have a life.”
“I’m a shadow/ghost of my former self.”